Article about Muslim vote and Kerry, Dean and Kucinich

[WheresWaldo]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/elections/chi-0402060274feb06,1,5084170.story?coll=chi-electionsprint-hed

California contest shows Muslim hopefuls' plight
By Geneive Abdo
Tribune religion reporter
Published February 6, 2004

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Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Muslims have become politically active like never before, and they are hoping to influence elections in a number of states, including Michigan, which holds its caucuses Saturday.

Motivated against Bush

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Islamic groups are behind the voter registration drives, which seek to mobilize a potential electorate of 3 million. On Sunday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington registered thousands of Muslims in mosques and community centers across the nation as they marked the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.

In response to the growing political activism, presidential candidates are courting the Islamic vote they once ignored. In Michigan, presidential hopefuls have held meetings in towns such as Dearborn that have a high concentration of Muslims.

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The desire to assimilate is most common among Muslims who are upwardly mobile, well educated, and have lived in the United States for a few decades.

"It won't be beards and head scarves that will determine the fate of Muslims in America," says Salam al-Maryati, director of Los Angeles' Muslim Political Action Council. "It's finding solutions to problems of social justice and human rights.

Down the middle

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Islamic organizations such as Muslim Political Action Council are running a nationwide campaign out of mosques and Islamic organizations to register voters to oppose Bush. According to surveys, most Muslims oppose the Iraqi occupation, believe the Bush administration offers unconditional support for Israel to the detriment of the Palestinians, and reject the administration's domestic policies that directly affect them, such as the USA Patriot Act.

In 2000, an estimated 78 percent of Muslim voters chose Bush, according to exit polls. But many Muslims feel that the promises he made, including his vow to be a fair mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, have not been kept.

"We have to vote in a bloc," says Omar Saki, head of the Los-Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "We have to motivate people and make our community aware that this is a crisis."

Decisive possibilities

Aslam Abdullah, head of the Muslim Electorates' Council of America, estimates that if 70 percent of eligible Muslims vote in each of seven states, they could be a decisive factor. Abdullah says the Muslim vote could be key in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Colorado, Oregon, Minnesota and Illinois.

Some Muslim groups have voiced their support for Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) for president because of his views on U.S. policies in the Islamic world and his vow to protect the rights of Arabs and Muslims targeted since Sept. 11. .

At the Muslim Political Action Council's national convention in Los Angeles in mid-December, Democratic presidential contenders Sen. John Kerry, Howard Dean and Kucinich called in from the campaign trail and addressed the estimated 1,000 participants.

Kerry told the audience that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should resign for failing to take a tougher stand against a U.S. general who last autumn said Muslims worship a false god. After Kerry finished speaking, one organizer for the council shouted to the audience, "Would Kerry have the courage to say these things in public?"

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[Straight Shooter]

1. "Would Kerry have the courage"?

Sounds like somebody's got Kerry's number.

[corporatewhore]

2. I wonder if they wouldsupport some one who voted for the patriot act

one of the most anti arab/muslim peice of legislation around?

[WheresWaldo]

3. they might

although many are staunch republicans owing to their "income brackets."